RockHound Rookies (no more!)

 

Joel and I went on our first-ever rockhounding experience in May with the Sedona Gem and Mineral Club.  What a wonderful time it was!  On a beautiful, bright, sunny Saturday morning, about 20 of us gathered together then caravan-ed up into the hills above Jerome, AZ.  Some of the club members already scoped this area out to make sure it would be a worthwhile place to field trip our efforts (and OH, YES- it sure was!).  This area is littered with Red Jasper containing brilliant Hematite bands.

Oodles of pieces were already laying exposed on the ground- you could practically trip over them!  Other larger chunks were lying in wait, and we dug some up using crow bars and small shovels.  Nobody went home empty handed. 

It is fractured material, however, our cutting guy, Mike, is proficient in using Opticon, so that helps  😊 and we've polished up some very nice pieces.  The hematite bands really pop within the solid red jasper color.  We are offering this material as both rough for cabbing and carving, and smaller pieces as slabs at ColorWright.com.
If you find yourself in Sedona during the Oak Creek Arts and Crafts show seasons, (click here to view their schedule.) you can see us in person and purchase hand-size pieces of this material partially polished, along with other locally-sourced kinds such as Apache Gold, Malachite/Azurite (also from Jerome) and MORE!!

CLICK HERE to see more pictures and a few short videos of us digging.

Home with our load.  Time to clean 'em up!

Our 2 biz partners were not     available to be with us, but they sure were pleased with what we brought back!  It was so much fun and very rewarding to add to our inventory by our own means and adventuring.  We'll definitely be going out on other trips with the club, when they resume after the heat of the Summer is over. 

MANY THANKS to the Sedona rock club for scouting out this location and taking us up with them!  We're so blessed to have joined this group and we look forward to seeing everyone again in the Fall!

Until next time,

TallyHo!  and ROCK ON

Quirky little Quartzsite

 

WaHoooo!!  It's a New Year, and we're pulling the RV to a new homebase for the first time:  5 nites in Quartzsite, Arizona.

Population 3,700 for most of the year, then it blows up throughout Jan and Feb, playing host to the largest gathering of boondockers in the world AND an open flea market of rock and specimen vendors-- so i have read, and heard.
Time to go dig into it ourselves!!!

Just want pics?  Click here.

DAY 1 MONDAY, Jan. 14th-  We packed in the RV and left Sedona close to 1pm.  It was a fun drive.  The sky was soft and pretty for most of it, eventually turning grey, and foothilly mountains were plentiful.  I'm always rejuvenated by seeing new lumps of land.  Growing up in MN was beautiful, and interesting.  But it is very different from the SW.  You can see for far longer distances down here, with the trees being so darn short!  And there's simply a greater variety of all Life and Earth to witness.  It continues to wow me.  It was drizzling rain as we rolled past the green sign with the town's name on it.  We still had a couple hours of daytime left when we arrived to our destination- an area off a long stretch of road past the outskirts.  We navigated ourselves to where the Escapees RV club peeps gather together.   I've missed this clan!  It is quite the organization, chock full of kind and fun ppl.  Most of our camping tends to be pretty solo throughout the year, which is perfectly wonderful, but i miss sharing my fire hoop at night, and kickin' it by the fire under the stars with others who want to share cool stories, travel tips, and laugh their butts off.
As soon as we parked and got out of the truck, a chatty midwestern man came over to say hi with his dog.  (HAHAHAHA)  There was a chill in the air, and the rain had stopped, but the entire sky was still full of grey.  It didn't take us long to detach the 5th wheel and set up, being there's nothing to plug into.  We just extend the slide-out, crank the back jacks down to better steady the rig, flop out our big outdoor patio rug at the door and... *Wha-Lha*  -we're home  :)
A cold wind began to blow as i laid my hula hoops underneath the RV, helping to keep them dry.  Only a minute after we began to cozy-up inside, it began to rain.  And it rained all night long.

We don't rely on running our furnace for regular, extended periods of time, as it eats through propane much too fast.  We've been looking for alternative ways to heat our space when not plugged in to power.  In the meantime, we lite candles, enjoy making a hot meal on the stovetop, and sip tea in the evenings under a blanket.  This particular night was tea-time over the cribbage board.  We hadn't played in over a year.   and all of a sudden, tonight was the night- Before even opening my mouth to suggest we play, Joel was in the cabinet fetching out the board!  My jaw kind of dropped, i shook my head and laughed.  3 games went down to perfection in the end: he kicked my butt the first round, was neck to neck all through the 2nd, and in the 3rd i surprised us both with counting first and having a BIG hand, that took me over the line.

GAMES!!!!!!!

DAY 2 TUESDAY- It's still pissing rain.  And it's cold.  We layered up and threw on rain coats.  I put on my rubber boots.  I LOVE rubber boots.  Rubber boots, they are HOOTS!!  Splishing, splashing, invincible through puddles... they ROCK.  they're kinda like the Jeep of footwear.  I LOVE 'EM!
Off we went to "T Rocks"- this big, outdoor, resident rock shop that's part of town, run by Mike and Theresa.  Theresa's from Michigan.  She moved down to AZ just to run her own rock shop.  It's such a fun place!  One of the neatest rock places i've ever been thru.  They have a lot of rough material (for cabbing and carving lapidary stuff), and we needed to stock up on some for work.  So Rob, the gentleman who sold us his business, met us here in the morning, with his lovely wife, Joanie, and introduced us to Theresa and her husband for the first time.  We had a nice time chatting for a bit under their makeshift shelter as the rain beat down.  Joel and I wandered around for a little bit, too, Spending an hour or so here.  We decided to come back in a couple days to purchase things.  Rob and his wife treated us to lunch.  Then we parted ways until the following day.
So Joel and I went into town to check out the showcase of RVs and camper-related supplies for sale.  We waltzed through the rain, stepping here and there into the newest models of  RVs- some are so HUUUGE! with fancy outdoor kitchens.  Others were more our size, and we found one in particular that really piqued our interest.  Joel was able to stand up straight in the entire bedroom, AND it had a very spacious, walk-thru bathroom.  We'd never seen that before!  Especially in the shorter rigs.  We talked about that layout for the rest of the week.  Could totally picture ourselves in it some day.

Before heading back home, we hit up a popular warehouse called GEM WORLD, another local shop that's open year-round.  I found it absolutely crazy ridiculous and overwhelming... pretty hilarious!  for one, it's HUGE- many many rows of stuff, high ceilings, all that.   and it's a bit WTF with the goods: there's shelves and shelves of gorgeous Amethyst geodes, lamps, crystal displays... and at the end of the row... a giant box of pizza cutters.  ??  There are rows and rows of various size Selenite crystal towers, Orthoceras fossils, different colored Calcite... and then a huge bin of assorted veggie peelers.  !!   (Ron Swanson shops at Food'n Stuff, and i find this place is more like Gems'n Stuff)  It was very busy inside, most ppl pushing shopping carts, clogging up the isles, and it was fun to see once, but we left before making it through the whole thing.  Once we were back at outside, the rain had let up.

Some blue sky started to show through.  We got back to our little house and i played with my fire fans as the sun began to set.  I sewed my own covers that go over the wicks, that way soot doesnt rub off of them and get things dirty.   I chose this spandexy, reflective, green material.  well, it caught somebody's attention with the sunlight hitting them, and one of our neighbors across the way came to investigate.  TeeHee!!  His name was Thurman.  he invited us over to the bonfire he and his clan were gonna have later.  So Joel and i ate dinner, took a nap, then hung out with a gaggle of new friends for the evening:
JR was in his late 40's, living by himself in his old, long motorhome.  Thurman was much younger, and kind of newish to traveling solo in a van.  He was loving it tho.  Terry was a lady with a green car that pulled a little travel trailer.  And another woman, who's name i don't recall, had a small truck with a teardrop trailor.  I spent hours with the 4 of them, sharing drinks and learning how they each decided to leave the typical world to be more free, more of a vagabond.  They were all very different ppl, and knew each other to some extent- they camp out together from time to time, such as at this event.  The night was EXACTLY what i'd been craving.  It puts you into such a different energy and frame of mind- just to be outside, for one.  So much of traveling and living off grid is about being OUTSIDE, and THAT alone causes one to feel different.  For many of us, we feel better.  Then add the element of fire, and fresh new friends to the mix.  It so invigorating!  And re they really "friends"?  I hardly know them.  but YES- we all enjoyed each other's company, and would help each other out however we could.  They live this lifestyle a bit more hardcore and raw than we yet do, but they say the same thing Joel and i feel whenever we travel or camp:  we all have each other's backs.  and most of us seek some degree of fellowship.   Hence= the BONFIRE 😁
It grew quite chilly to be away from the fire, even bundled up with a hat and gloves.   Eventually i went to bed.  It was a COLD, COLD night.  We layered on the blankets, and could have slept better, but we made it to

DAY 3 WEDNESDAY- 7:30am, up and at 'em!  It's a little rough to get out of bed in this cold.  We do kick on the heat for a while in the
mornings, enough to be comfortable getting dressed and cleaned up a bit.  
The sun was out, hardly any clouds, and it stayed dry all day.  We met Rob and Joanie at the Powow rockshow.  This is where Rob introduced us to author and rock-digger Pat McMahan.  Turns out this guy lives just down the road from us!  And we got to see a copy of his beautiful (coffee table) book .  We spent at least an hour shopping through his grey plastic bins with water and pretty slabs of stone in them.  We found some great material to take back home and sell!  Before we said goodbye, he invited us over to his home and lapidary shop sometime.  What a cool guy!

Rob introduced us to over half a dozen more guys he was used to doing business with over the years.  Like Kim Nielson of K&K Minerals.  I think he drives down from Nebraska, camps in his motorhome right in the show area and sets up shop just out the front door.  Kim sent us home with a chunk of something with little shells and fossils in it, called Turritella, to take back to our shop and polish up- see what it looks like, and if we'd want to buy from him in the future.  He was a lovely man, very friendly.

We also met John Bennet, a british guy with a hard, australian accent, sets up an RV and places his many rusty bins of rock in rows all around his appointed space.  This is what a lot of sellers do.   It's such a campy-vibe, this whole town.

We met a gaggle of Austrailans running a shop together, and ran into the president of a blade and wheel company we do a lot of business with, and... we met a lot of ppl.  So, we're more officially plugged into this rock world of work now!  It's pretty groovy.

We spent hours walking around the powow show, with so much to look at, beautiful and strange.  The air was drying out, the sun was shining, and we still had plenty of daylight to play in after we got home.  We went for a little bike ride and enjoyed the fresh air.  It was fun to see some of the new campers that rolled in and set up that day.  I practiced my not-lit fire toys.  At some point before dusk, i crawled up on to the top of the camper to hang this 5-piece bundle of El wire from the top of our internet antennae.  Each strand is a different color, and hanging down makes it look like rather squidlike!   I also got a cool shot of the mountains, and neighbors around us.
I lit my hula hoop a couple times once it got dark, and heard cheers over yonder.  Then we went inside to make dinner.   As we got puttering in the kitchen, there was a knock at the door.  It was some of the clapping ladies from a big caravan of ppl to ask "what the heck WAS that?!"  I told them it was my hula hoop.  They asked to see it, how the wicks attach to it, how it works.  Then requested that i do it again after we ate dinner.   So yes, i did! and spent the remainder of the night enjoying their huge fire, and equally large group of warm hearts and smiles- all from Canada.  they all come to this same spot every year, and welcomed us back to their giant fire again next time.

DAY 4 THURSDAY  Played outside the camper this morning, took it easy, ate breaky, then tooled around more on our bikes.  Came across only a few saguaro cactus.  They're peppered sparsely out here.  And some super-rad RVs, with balconies, decks off the back!  7 slide-outs?!?  whaaaaaat?  WOW.

Went back into town to buy stuff from TRocks.   We spent a few hours this time!   Most of it toting around a big wagon, spraying rocks with water bottles, checking out their coloring and patterns, learning about more names and types of stone... so many to turn over and look at!  It is quite the shopping experience.  We chatted a lot too with Theresa and her husband.  they are really cool ppl.  Happy to give them our business. Sunset tonight was really gorgeous.  And it seemed very odd-- everyone around us was so quiet!  and in their campers unusually early.   Nobody was out having a fire. ??   Was i missing something?  YES.  Yes, i was:  a fire!    So we had our own, for the first time, and it was perfect.

DAY 5 FRIDAY  A nice, relaxed morning.  Went on another bike ride.  So much space to peddle through!   it's an interesting terrain to explore.  Then back into town to do the last of our business with some of these new peeps we were introduced to.  After that, there's a big lump of land right behind Desert Gardens, called Q Hill.  We drove to the bottom and walked to the tippy top.  WHAT A VIEW!  Such a wonderful feeling to look around and see for so far.  There is a LOT of white quartz pieces up there.  I took a chunk with me, which we polished up back at our shop, and gave it to a friend for her birthday.  She loved it, it turned out really cool!   (Thanks, Q Hill!)

We leave Quartzsite tomorrow morning.   It is so neat that we'll be coming back here every year as a business trip (and much pleasure!) to replenish our inventory.  What a marvelous time it was.

If you've ever thought of living out of a car, van, trailer, tent or camper, this place is an open haven for you, anytime of year-- ALL THIS OPEN LAND!  that anybody can just park and live on... and Leave No Trace.


Tally Ho!

So... we got jobs. (Copper Canyon!)

On a chilly mid-November morning, we blasted off in our new home

WOW!  It was 1 year ago this week!!! that Joel and I left Mpls, 'the corporate world', and stationary house living behind.  We headed south into a new lifestyle with no solid idea of what we were gonna do for an income... Other than keep our minds open, and enjoy the daylights out of all our new experiences!!  and WoW- talk about an adventure)

We sailed along pretty well on savings for several months, but one day our desire grew bigger for a plentiful, fun flow of money coming in again.

i thought about going into town and filling out a job application somewhere, but that didn't ring my bells at all.  For numerous reasons, i'm most-enjoying giving massages still, but just as a hobby and for fun, so, that didn't feel like an option for me either.  Joel was looking here and there for something he could do web-wise, but nothing really called to him.  "What i'd really like is to own or work for my own business." he told me one day.  And he'd thought about doing private contract work, but he wasn't moved to take on anything yet.  So, after several days of feeling-out some different options, i myself decided to give it a break and stop thinking about it.
Then something exceptional happened.

Joel's friends, Michael and Courtenay, have been running a small and successful rock-cutting and crystal-selling business here in town for 10ish years, called Copper Canyon Lapidary.  One evening they suggested we meet up with them for dinner. 
Mike asked Joel a bunch of questions about his web expertise, then went on to tell us about a huge business prospect he had up his sleeve.
He and his wife were seriously considering buying a colleague's 20+ yr, well-established, online rock-sales business, based out of Tuscon, AZ.  Not only that, but they knew of another guy in the middle-of-nowhere, CA, looking to retire from his rock equipment-cutting business.  So, they were looking to expand Copper Canyon Lapidary, BIGTIME.  But they couldn't do it alone.  Mike is a rock guy and just wants to cut rocks.  Courtenay has little experience with online, tech-y stuff, and already run their little crystal shop at the local arts & craft fair on weekends.  So they would need someone to manage a bunch of websites, photograph new inventory to put up on them, and learn to how to ship out the materials they'd sell.  And of course, these new businesses would have to be physically moved: one up, and the other over, to Sedona. 
They were asking us if we had any interest in maybe helping them.
blah blah blah, fast-forward a couple weeks, and we strongly felt "yes!"

stick a big rock in there!

We've spent the last several months preparing a new warehouse space right in town/only 10 minutes from where we live, to accommodate Mike's cutting equipment (he's been working out of his garage for years), all the new inventory we'd be taking in, and to house an entire office.  Amidst all that, Joel helped write up contracts & purchase agreements, dealt with lawyers & accountants, established bank accounts, figured out various legal things, and designed us a new logo.  Throw in the purchases, our building inspections, and oodles of other details, and... now we're IN it 😄 

moving day, just before Halloween

A couple weeks ago we all drove down to Tucson, loaded up a moving truck with desks, packing materials, shelving, boxes of pretty polished things, buckets of chunks and heavy rocks, office supplies, etc. and hauled it all up to it's new home.  The guy letting it all go came up with us, too 😁 (Rob.)  He's helping us find our bearings and train us in on how all this works.  Joel is now managing a bunch of different websites, taking orders, and figuring out their shipping logistics.  I'm pulling stuff off the shelves and packaging it up to be shipped, as well as learning how to photograph our back stock and edit pictures, to be added onto the websites.  Mike and Courtenay have one more weekend of running their crystal-selling shop at the local arts&craft fair, then they'll have the winter off, starting it up again in March.  Courtenay will be assisting me with the photography thru the winter. 

As some of you saw on FB earlier this year (Spring/summer), I shared pics of Joel and I helping Mike cut and polish stones.  It was so much fun!  But we're not really doing that anymore.  At the time, it worked out so great, since the new biz and salaries were not yet established, we were able to quickly learn a fun and fascinating new skill, and receive some cash for our time to boot!  Plus what an eye-opening experience! to see how to take a boring chunk of WTF?, slice it up, cut that into smaller pieces, soften or shape the edges, and put a polish on it... *Wha-La!*  "this thing is gorgeous inside!"
it can be a rather lengthy process.  I now better understand all the energy that goes into the pretty little bits we all see set into jewelry, or sold at a crystal shop, for hobbyists and 'healers'.  It's a delightful way to spend some time!  And i can see why some folks have such a passion for doing it.

Malachite/Azurite cabochons that we cut

Somewhere amidst all that, Joel and I made several mini road-trips down to Tucson (Saguaro-land!) so we could meet this Rob feller and start learning how to do what he does.

 Rob used to have a huge warehouse space with employees, but he's a solo act these days, running his shop solely online, out of the converted garage attached to his home.  We got to meet his wife Joanie as well. They are such LOVELY ppl!  Like all rock-hounds we've been meeting lately, Rob is such a character 😄 and we love him to bits.  He's quite laid-back, with a fun sense of humor, yet very serious about seeing his business go into caring and capable hands.  (He was all-for passing it off to Mike and Counrtenay, but it was gonna be a lot to take on for just the two of them.  They'd prefer to see them have some help... and then Life brought Joel and I onto the scene!)  Joanie and Rob have so lovingly opened their home to us on several different occasions.  the first time we met them we pulled our camper with us and lived on some fun BLM land, and spent a whole week.  Over our following, shorter visits they had us spend the night at their house, made us meals, took us out on the town a few times, and one evening we played a spirited game of Rummikub. (i forgot how fun that one is!)  Joanie even took me with her one Sunday morning to something kind of like Dance Church (in Mpls.) !!!  We had a lovely time together!  I've so much enjoyed spending time with both of them.  Now that everything is moved, i'm not sure when we will see Joanie again, but Rob said he'll be only a phone call away for months to come, once he leaves us to man our new ship mostly on our own.

Ginormous Quartz crystal at the Denver show

On another note, one of the great things about this business for us all is getting to TRAVEL!  and experience these GINORMOUS rock and gem shows (with GINORMOUS crystal specimens!) that happen in Arizona and Colorado, mainly.  There's a big one we'll attend every September in Denver, and another one every January/February in Tucson and Quartzsite.  Mike has suggested we take our little arts&craft fair shop to Cortez this spring and try vending there for the first time (WooHoo!!  we love CO.)  There's also interesting places where we can go dig out our own crystals and rocks from the ground.  (not to mention we still have a trip to Cali to do, for sealing the deal on the equipment buisness.)
YEAH, it's true, we're gonna be hunkered down here for a while, but i can't imagine a better place to be "stuck" (HA!) than this little town!  I really love Sedona.  I love and do miss my family, and friends. 
I love my husband so much!!!  I LOVE this opportunity we attracted (thanks, Universe/God/All-That-Is!).  I love our new business partners, we all get along so well.  I love our tiny home on wheels!  We've been living in an RV for a full year now and i'm still finding so much satisfaction in it.  It's just perfect for us right now!  and quite a while to come, we both feel.
 
I'm really stoked we're gonna go to Quartzsite for our first time come the New Year.  If you don't know yet, it's a HUGE RV/camping gathering that goes down every year in an area of AZ i havne't been to yet.  There's also big gem show that goes on in conjunction with the camper event, so Mike and Courtenay plan on going to that as well.
 In February we'll go to Tucson, where we'll buy up more inventory to sell at the local Spring show season.  And every September we'll go back to Denver, to restock for the Fall show season.  ...such is our ebb and flow of the crystal-sharing world.

 Joel will eventually launch an all new Copper Canyon website.  Right now we are doing business off of Colorwright.com.
What we sell at the arts & craft show is different from what we sell online, with the exception of Shungite products.  Colorwright caters mainly to lapidary and faceting (rock-hound) folks.  But we also offer beads, some polished items, jewelry, etc.  (A whole LOT!)
If you ever see me post pics from the show and you see things you like, let me know what you're interested in and we'll figure it out to ship it to you.

Our latest hike/climb

We get out on a hike much more seldom these days, but we did go last week on a trail we'd never been, made quite a climb, and caught a spectacular sunset view of Thunder Mountain.  I told Mike and Courtenay that we ALL have to do a group hike once a month together.  it will be great to clear our heads of business-y stuff, get exercise, fresh air, and bask in the energy/nature down here.  They're all for it.  The first hike isn't on the books yet, but it's coming.  As are all good things!  (For anybody, EVERY BODY! no exceptions 😉  ALL OF THE TIME!  Well-Being flows to you~)

Hello! from the new Copper Canyon Lapidary :)

TallyHo!  👋

THE Denver rock show!

HFSB, Batman!  a giant quartz crystal cluster

One of the things SO SPOT-ON about the new jobs Joel and I landed, is the opportunity to continue traveling and take more trips.  (The Universe is so catering to us!  and by us, i mean EVERYBODY.)

Every year, our biz partners go to Denver in the Fall, and Tucson in Winter, to buy new inventory at the giant rock and gem shows.  So on Sept. 12th,  Joel and I packed up our tent & sleeping bags again into the truck, and hit the road in mid-september to make the trek and join our comrades in Denver for a few days of shopping and marveling at crazy rock specimens.  We had three national parks in mind to check out.  The show itself was gonna be fascinating!  A surprise and worthwhile detour in Colorado awaited us.   More great (free) camping spots were discovered.  and we got startlingly close to some critters one camp night on our way home!

Driving north and leaving Sedona is really fascinating.  All this red rock, short vegetation, big mesas, expansive spaces, and mountainous foothills surround every direction.  Drive the winding road north only several miles up Oak Creek Canyon and the rocks become more grey, tall pine trees begin to dominate, and visibility is limited.  That pops you out on top of the Mogollon rim and into Flagstaff; green meadowy grasses, predominantly pine trees, more moisture in the air, and Mt. Humphrey overlooks it all.  Begin to leave Flagstaff and the mountains drift away, trees become sparse, barren land takes over, down to nothing, and it's pretty flat.  Flat, flat, flat... not much around, until getting to Utah... is so fantastically weird.  Odd, worn-away rock formations stand sporadically all over the place, and reddish-rock arches seem very common. 

We drove through Monument Valley again (3 times in the last few months?!!👍) and spent our first night just outside Moab, Utah, on BLM land that proved a noteworthy nook for overnight.  I was impressed with how quiet it was for being not too far off the busy highway, but tucked around a corner and behind a nice hill.  there were others out there with us but there was lots of space between everyone.  The moon rose just after we got our tent pitched.  I hung a string of little flowery across the top and we ate something for dinner, then turned in for bed not long after.  We slept great, got up with the sun and made our way into town to gas up, eat at a local diner,and then hit Arches National park. WOW.

near Moab, UT.   Do you see the little ppl's down there?  :)

 all these arches.  what...? incredible.  (lots of pics in the link at the end.)  We spent a few great hours here.  it got really HOT tho, and we had to bail on walking the longer trails.  we gotta go back sometime!   
We split in late afternoon to make it all the way to Denver, for an overnight at my friend's home.  Our original ETA was for 10ish,  but we ended up being a couple hours later due to the unforeseen drive opportunity thru:  Colorado national monument.  Ever been?   The road takes you up high, to the top of a plateau, then winds along the top of it, ducking through some woodsy, hilly patches here and there.   the views are huge, looking down sheer cliff canyon walls, before spitting you out into the city of Grand Junction.  i really didn't want to possibly disturb my friend's family by coming in so late that night, but HOLY BUCKETS, am i glad we did that drive!  (and friend was fine with our arrival ;)

Colorado nat'l monument.  👍👍👍

The following day, this sweet friend, Gayle, and her two little daughters, took us to show off their plot in the nearby community garden.  Gayle grows many medicinal herbs and beautiful flowers!  And we had just enough time for a little hike with some Big views, that took us behind the Flatirons (Mtn range).  I'm so thankful for this time we shared with them before driving into the city that afternoon.

a hike with friends.   Boulder, CO

We didn't take many pictures at the gem show we came for, but i did nab a few, of both big and small growths (mostly types of quartz).
It was all quite dazzling, to say the least!  SO MUCH to look at.  so much... energy.  it was definitely something i enjoyed to experience for myself, and i look forward to the next one we go to.

The last day we encountered a clever man who constructs himself & walks around inside his own, large dinosaur puppets.  right place, right time:  a small kid approach this guy and I overheard him ask "Will you step on me?!"  
The kid laid down on the floor and this guy raised his big dino leg and brought his foot down on him.  HA!HA  (don't see that everyday)

While we were at this show, we had to stock up on inventory to sell back in Sedona, at our local arts&crafts fair, select weekends throughout the year.  Mike asked if i would help with picking out a nice selection of Madagascar sculptures- pretty or interesting ones that i think would sell at our shows.  I had so much fun choosing things... it felt exhilarating, like a shopping spree!  He said the dealer was gonna swing us a great discount, being we buy from them regularly, so he told me to go to town.  and i did!!   not only that, they've been selling

wonderfully!  some of what we chose, Mike is even keeping aside so he can cut into it, find more pretty, hidden areas, make multiple, different pieces, and yield a greater profit than from selling it as a chunk.  he was very pleased.  We all were!  it was a wonderful time, both shopping and just oogling at the incredible, dynamic specimens of various minerals, crystal structures, meteorites, and rocks.  Joel and I got to meet a couple of the dealers we'll be purchasing more from in the future, such as this friendly married couple from Uraguay, who sells us salt rock lamps.  And another married couple, Oxana and Andre, from Russia, who provide our plethora of high-grade shungite material.   This business is nothing short of fascinating and beautiful souls.
After 3 days of walking and looking around, our eyeballs and brains were overloaded!  It was the end of the show week, so folks were starting to pack things up.  Counrtenay and I negotiated some nice deals on smaller items for the arts&craft show.   we got our truck loaded up with the giant salt-rock lamp purchase Mike made, and began our drive back to Sedona in the late afternoon.  (A big Thank You again to all the sweet friends who hosted us overnight during our whole visit! 🌞)

We left Denver and spent some time in Glenwood Springs, such a cool town!  In a great spot- the middle of the mountains, with hot springs, and we'll spend more time there in the future.  We went looking for these open hot springs our friends told us about, but failed to find them.  Somehow tho, we did find other ones, off a dirt road, down a woodsy trail, in the middle of a beautiful, wild mountainside.  it was kind of sureal!  hot bluish water bubbled up out of the ground!  and a couple ppl were sitting in it.   it was really hot out this day, and we had no interest in climbing in!  but we were glad we stopped saw that it is there.  (on a snowy winter night, how amazing that would be!)  we drove on and spent the nite somewhere along the CO river, at free dispersed camp land.
what a KOOKY nite that was!!
(The following story not in complaining, but out of pure amusement 😛)

We got our tent set up down near the river just before dusk began.   behind our tent was a clump of trees and bushes, with a stone picnic table on the other side.  A number of our items were still sitting up there.  I plopped down in a chair to sit for a short bit and take in the beautiful evening , as Joel went up and out of my site to the picnic table.  several minutes later i noticed 2 fox on the bank of the river about 50 feet down from me. " WoW," i thought.  "how neat to see them.  i thought fox tend to be skiddish about ppl", so i thought it neato, and hoped joel would get to see them too, if he walked down slowly and quiet.  Well, he didn't come back softly, and they took off.  So maybe that was a special moment just for me. 😃  Then it started getting quite dark.  We were watching the moon over the water and joel thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye.  there were other ppl hanging out not very far from us.  were some kids out wandering around?  the main trail goes right by that picnic table.  Suddenly there was a LOUD sound of crinkling, like plastic, coming from the table area.  Joel jumped out of his chair, ran out of my sight and i heard him yell "HEY!" and he took off running down the path.

HAHA!  what was going on?!  i got out of my chair to see, and noticed one of the fox about 20 feet away from me.  "What's up!" i asked it.  it darted off.  i heard commotion on the actual road.  i walked up that way and noticed tortilla chips trailing across to the other side.
Joel came back saying he found the fox under a tree, bag of chips in his mouth, thrashing the crap out of it, then took off with it still in it's mouth.  Joel crossed the road to try and find them but only a few chips remained.   for a while tho, somewhere in the dark across the road, we thought we could hear the intermittent shaking of that bag! 

And this went on all night.   They were absolutely screwing with us.

there's a moon up there.

We went back to our chairs after the chip incident and they kept popping up around us, staring out from the bushes, eyes glowing as we shined our flashlights on them, or they stood in the trail under the moonlight, barely able to make them out, and saw them continue walking past that picnic table.   Even though much of our items on the table were big and bulky, it wasn't long before we decided to just move it all back into the truck.  i left out 1 pair of slip-on shoes and a string of lights to hang near the tent.  about a half hour after that, one of them ran off a short ways with my shoe!  so we got EVERYTHING off the table, and i hung my lights in the tree behind the tent.  I sat back down near joel and a minute later i turn to look next to me and HOLY SHIT! one is RIGHT THERE!!  i could have reached out and patted its head.  it startled me!  Sure caught me off guard.  and made me laugh!  Joel on the other hand was getting uneasy about them.  he didn't like them coming so near to us.  not long after the super-close-encounter, we turned in for the night.  in the middle of the night we were both jolted awake by something BOLTING by outside our door, then a looooong skidding sound.  joel scrambled to get his shoes on flew out of the tent!   A few minutes later he found the tent bag with the tie-cord broken.  once morning came, i discovered they chewed apart my string lights, making complete moop out them.  GaH!
so... we survived that fiasco!   and headed back into Utah that morning, to...
Canyondlands.  CANYONLANDS!  this place is crazy, and we only saw a very small portion of it.  the timing took us into it at sunset, and how lovely that was.  we walked around before it got dark and saw some incredible things.  it was like looking down on a canyon WITHIN a canyon...  so trippy.  SO MUCH MORE to see and hike here.  so we'll go back another time.  our real vision is to pull the RV and spend at least a month around this area, as there are several national parks all rather close together.  that will be a grand trip, for sure! 

canyonlands.

we could have returned to our previous spot in Moab to spend the night after leaving the lands of canyon, but we opted to try a new BLM area and see what it was like.
It was kinda weird!  but, accommodating.  i say accommodating because it had a porta-potty off the road, not too far a walk from where we pitched out tent, and we never see that.  altho how could they not have one?  there was NOTHING out here.  no vegetation.  absolutely barren.  "THANK YOU for providing a bathroom!" i felt immensely.  as for other campers around us:  it was crowded.  about half of what we saw were trailers, and RVs and motorhomes.  the rest were vans and cars.  i think we were the only ones in a tent!  we hit the road right away the next morning and got home in the early evening.

we got our salt-rock lamps back home safe and sound.  the small items we thought would sell hot at the arts&crafts sale were a HIT!   We sold out of many things like small rose quartz hearts, labradorite hearts, and double-ended Citrine chucks that look like they came out of a pirate treasure chest, and other things, that we'll stock up on again when we go to Tucson in 5 months.
All in all, another wonderful trip, all of the drive so lovely, lots to look at and see.  Life is good.

TallyHo!

click here for all the pics

this is out there.  (so it must be in you!)

South bound!

before.

BYE BYE cheese land and the state of many lakes!

August was nearing and we had to get back down south. 

AFTER! 

Our first day driving away from the Midwest I asked Joel if our return route through Colorado would bring us back to the UFO Watchtower.  "Can we stay there again?!" and he told me No, we were gonna go well past that area the day we trek through Colorado.  "Okay" i said, even though i really wanted to go back and sleep outside under the stars.  
We plowed through all of Iowa and made it to Benedict, KS, back to our friends' farmstead for a few nights (see Running Turtle Acres tab above).  They had WAY MORE goats!!  OODLES more chickens!  some ducks.  new cats.  the puppies weren't puppies anymore!  and the house was quiet- Lou and the 4 kiddos were visiting family in another state, so it was just us and Andy.   We had a blast together, living the small-town rural life again.  We went to the fair one day, hit up the ice cream social, and said 'hi' to all the prize-winning farm animals.  back at the house I spent time jumping in the pen with the goats, letting them walk up to me and i'd pet them.  other times I would sit close to the ground among the chickens.  I find many of the sounds they make to be so soothing and pleasant to hear!  Other times they just make me laugh.  certain ones would get really close, tip their head to the side, look me in the eyes and make funny noises at me.  Joel helped Andy with a project one day, making some headway on his "hoop house"- a greenhouse he wants to finish for winter.  He was so grateful for Joel to be there and help.  they had a very productive day.  after a few days there, it was time for us to hit the road again.



Our second day of travel got us all across Kansas back into Colorado.  Joel navigated while I drove.  I was oblivious to the route i was taking us... just lost in the scenery and my thoughts, following wherever joel told me to go.  We didn't hit foothills in Colorado till around dusk.  and I started to recognize some of the town names... from making this drive a couple months ago.  I said as much to Joel.  and it suddenly occurred to me... the UFO watchtower is out this way!!  Joel was not pulling my leg when I asked days ago about going back here.  Our timing was just off- we didn't make it as far as he reckoned we would today.  I saw a sign for Hooper. 
 "HOOPER!!" I exclaimed.  "Where the heck are we spending the night??"  i asked with a huge grin... waiting for him to answer... he was considering our location, pondering for a little while before saying anything, and sure enough... we ended up back at the Watchtower!  I was flippin'-out excited.  then i flipped-out even more when i remembered also how close we were to the sand dunes national park... and we were gonna have some time to play around tomorrow.  EEEEEEEE!

my dream came true!

 We pulled into the campground    around 11pm, again, apparently the only ones there.  It was MUCH warmer this evening compared to last time.  the moon was big, emerging above the horizon as we were setting up our tent.  Joel made a fire and we sat up for a while. "I have to sleep up on top of the tower tonight.  are you going to join me?"  No, he declined, as he preferred to stay snuggled up inside the tent for the evening.  So I packed my sleeping pad, bag, and some other goodies into my backpack and hiked my butt over that way.  I spent a little time looking around with my flashlight at the "garden" below the deck (pics in the link at the bottom), and sat on a bench for a while, taking in the beautiful moon-lit evening.  Before too long I heard scurrying all around me, very loudly in some areas more than others.  i'd flick my light on quick and point it toward the noises.  Mice!   they were scurrying all over, through the numerous knick-knacks and items placed throughout the oddball garden.  a number of them just stopped and stared at me, until I got up off the bench to go upstairs and make my bed.

There was a chill in the air but I was plenty warm and cozy all night.  I stared up at the stars and moon for at least an hour, reflecting on how wonderful a summer it had been so far, feeling so satisfied, and absolutely floored that I was laying up here now, just like I wanted to a couple months ago!  I drifted off into marvelous sleep, only waking a couple times, and then the pastel hues of pinks and blues started to appear.

good morning, Sunshine 🌞

As if waking up to this splendor wasn't wonderful enough, we still had two more days to arrive back in Sedona.  We packed up from the Watchtower and made our way over to the Great Sand Dunes national park.  WAHOOOOOO!!!!!!   I could hardly believe we were back here again already- and with time to play around this time- The dunes are amazing.  what a contrast of scenery amidst the Colorado mountains.  Am I in the Sahara??  It's absolutely picturesque.  some ppl were toting up then scooting down on boards much like the ones you'd use in the snow.  The sand was very hot and getting into our cracks of footwear.  I pretty quickly ditched my shoes and walked around in my socks.  it was HOT AS HELL, and we lasted a little over an hour.  I'd love to return and see it with show, or camp out sometime in the summer!  We shoved off just passed noon and planned to find a campsite before nightfall.  Our goal= Pagosa Springs, CO.  

A giant patch of sand dunes, in CO

We hit our goal for the day, and swung in to visit Chimney Rock national monument, but they were about to close down.  The guy manning the booth was very chatty, and ended up giving us a tip for free camping down along the Piedra river.  we took his advice and found a fabulous spot not far off the riverbed and slept like rocks alongside the babbling sounds of the water.  what a treasure of a spot!  Joel cooked us breakfast in the morning and i bathed lightly in the river.  There was something about being in the water that morning... sunshine on my skin, the water so refreshing, waking me up for the day, and i just felt so calm, and close to nature.  my true nature!  connected to and nurtured abundantly by the land.  i would love to experience this EVERY SINGLE DAY!  We hit the road just after 10am.

Today was our last day to get home.  Like on our drive up to the midwest, we were gonna pass thru Monument Valley (just before the boarder of Arizona), but have some time to look around and take it in this time.  
This was the second time we visited a place in the desert that reportedly had been without any precipitation for a YEAR, and while we were there, it rained!!  (??  what the heck is up with this?)  Drizzle began to fall when we parked at the visitor center to eat lunch.  We got out and walked around a bit until it started pouring.  Like so many places we have visited since getting our annual parks pass, this was a sight i'd only seen in pictures, movies, etc.  It's a gorgeous, strange landscape that I was excited to see for myself.  and actually, it seems most of Utah, and lots of Arizona is strange and gorgeous!  Weird spires, red rocks, small plateaus, random towers, all scattered apart from each other... the geology around here is something else!  There is a road you can take through more of the park, but we only ate lunch and looked at it from a deck off the visitor's center.  Joel wanted to get home before too late this evening, so we continued our drive, arriving us back around 9pm, safe and sound, another fun adventure under our belts, happy as clams.

I missed our little camper!  it was like reuniting with a great friend.  and there's just nothing like your own, cozy bed!!!  it was great to be home.  tallyho, TALLYHO!

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THUNDER MOUNTAIN!!!  home sweet home ❤